The present disclosure relates to a seatbelt assist device and a vehicle seat. Particularly, the present disclosure relates to a seatbelt assist device and a vehicle seat capable of moving at least a portion of a seatbelt to a position easily reachable by a seated passenger's hand.
Typically, it has been known that in order for a seated passenger on a vehicle seat to easily take a seatbelt, a belt movable member provided at an upper portion of a seat back protrudes forward or upward to push a portion of the seatbelt forward or upward, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Publication JP 2004-306642A and Japanese Patent Publication JP 06-060562U.
In the seatbelt integrated vehicle seat described in JP 2004-306642A, the belt movable member is attached to an upper portion of a lateral portion of the seat back in a right-to-left direction, the upper portion being capable of housing the belt movable member. The seatbelt extends downward from a belt guide (a pullout port) provided at an upper position of the belt movable member in the lateral portion, and is placed on the lateral portion. The belt movable member is disposed to move between a housing position at which the belt movable member is housed in a housing portion of the seat back and an extension position at which the belt movable member is extended forward of the seat from the housing position to push a portion of the seatbelt forward. With the above-described configuration, workability in fastening of the seatbelt by the seated passenger is improved.
In the vehicle rear seat described in JP 06-060562U, the belt guide integrated belt movable member (a belt anchor) is attached to an upper portion of a center portion of the seat back in a right-to-left width direction, the upper portion being capable of housing the belt movable member. The seatbelt is guided by a belt guide on an upper surface of the center portion, and extends from the upper surface to a front surface of the center portion. Thus, the seatbelt is placed on the center portion. The belt movable member is rotatably disposed between a housing position at which the belt movable member is housed in a recessed housing portion of the seat back and a protruding position at which the belt movable member protrudes upward of the seat from the housing position to push a portion of the seatbelt upward. With the above-described configuration, the belt movable member can constantly protrude when the passenger is seated on a rear middle seat of a vehicle, and can be housed to ensure rearward visibility when no passenger is seated.
However, the belt movable member as described in JP 2004-306642A has a relatively-complicated extension mechanism configured to push a portion of the seatbelt forward, leading to a size increase of the mechanism. In the belt movable member as described in JP 06-060562U, size reduction is made using a rotation mechanism. However, since the belt movable member is of the belt guide integrated type, it is necessary to provide a mechanism configured to guide the seatbelt. This leads to a size increase. Moreover, since the belt movable member protrudes upward from the seat back after the passenger has seated, there is a likelihood that such a state interferes with the passenger to be seated.
Further, the belt movable member as described in JP 2004-306642A and JP 06-060562U protrudes forward or upward of the seat from the upper portion of the seat back to push a portion of the seatbelt forward or upward, and therefore, the seated passenger can easily take the seatbelt. For this reason, a design to further improve the workability in fastening of the seatbelt is desirable.
In addition, in the belt movable member as in JP 2004-306642A, when the seated passenger pulls the seatbelt toward one's body to fasten the seatbelt, if a portion of the belt movable member still contacts and pushes out the seatbelt, play of the seatbelt is caused. As a result, this might interfere with the performance of restraining the seated passenger by the seatbelt. For this reason, a design to ensure a favorable performance of restraining the seated passenger by the seatbelt is desirable.
Moreover, in the vehicle seat as in JP 2004-306642A and JP 06-060562U, no arrangement has been particularly made to use an indicator section such as sound or vibration to inform the seated passenger of the belt movable member being at the extension position (the protruding position). Thus, there is a possibility that the seated passenger accidentally contacts the belt movable member at the extension position (the protruding position) or that other members contact such a belt movable member.